A Candidate Is Born ... On Twitter

April 21, 2009

San
Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat best-known for directing his city to recognize
same-sex marriage in 2004, announced today that he's running for governor of California. But there
was no rally or speech. He spread the word on
Twitter and Facebook. "It's official- running for Gov of
CA. Wanted you to be the first to know," he told his Twitter followers.

On the one hand, I suppose this keeps with Newsom's
reputation as a young, with-it politician. On the other hand, I cringe at the idea that he might say, upon victory or defeat in 2010, "We launched
this campaign last year with a single Tweet."